31 posts tagged “friends”

Hot shots

Apr 22, 2007
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I had a pretty good weekend. Friday night, we saw Blades of Glory, which was tons of fun. Afterward, we had drinks at the new, cocktail-lounge version of the old Ballard dive bar Coppergate. I had a pretty good drink that included some rhubarb juice, but negihama's cherry cocktail was a little too Champagne-y for our tastes.

On Saturday, I went to the UW to meet up with some Flickr folks (the Seattle Flickrite Meetup Group) to do a "photostroll." We wandered around campus, the camera geeks with their huge lenses mixing with a couple of us with point-and-shoots. Everyone was very nice, and I got a few nice shots (click here for the set):

Kane

Afterward, we first went out for coffee and then beer. It was a lot of fun, and I'm definitely going to try to come out to their events in the future.

Today, we had breakfast at Hi-Life and I worked in the yard. I think the lawn looks a lot better than it did last year, and I hope I can keep up with the weeds until we have to move.

Back on the (ex-)Horse

Apr 9, 2007
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It's sort of been a slow period for music, personally, or rather live music. I feel like I've bought a decent amount of new CDs in the past couple of months. Anyway, this is slated to change real soon. Coming up:

April 27 - Grand Archives (Crocodile) - These guys juuuust changed their name (from Archives), have played just one show, and there's already a backlash brewing over their hype. Thanks, Pitchfork. But I like how their four-song demo sounds, I like their pedigree (ex-Band of Horses/ex-Carissa's Wierd Mat Brooke is involved), and damn it I'm going to try to go to one of their shows before they get too popular and I either can't afford to see 'em or don't want to stand through a crowded show. I'm going to try to get a ticket at Sonic Boom tonight.

May 10 - Nickel Creek (McCaw Hall) - I wasn't planning on going, but it's their last show (for now) here, probably, right? So maybe I will.

May 11 - The Posies [acoustic] (Triple Door) - It's sort of a weird venue for them, but acoustic is pretty intimate and I'll bet they'll sound great. I wish my friend Chris (now in D.C.) were still in town to see this with me.

*May 26 - Sasquatch Festival Day One {Björk, The Arcade Fire, Beastie Boys (instrumental), Manu Chao, Neko Case, The Hold Steady, and others} (The Gorge Amphitheater) - I'm really hoping that the weather is a happy medium from a couple of years ago (too hot) and last year (freak hailstorm), because this is a great lineup. And they better let me bring in my decidedly not professional camera, as per the rules. I'm going to print them out so I can bring mine in with me. We're driving back after the show and not camping, because it's not worth the trouble and in the middle of SIFF anyway.

June 9 - The Wrens (Crocodile) - It will be awesome to see them again.

In other music news, it was cool to hear that the New Pornographers are finishing up their next album and expect to release it sometime this summer. I am looking forward to it.

As for the last few days, we met up with Elizabeth's old friend/pen pal Brian, who was in town visiting friends, and had sushi at Mashiko on Saturday night. Mmm! Saturday, we also did a bunch of trimming, digging, and hauling dirt around the yard, despite the drizzly weather. Also, my parents have been out of town, so I made a few trips to feed the cat/give her medicine. We never got around to seeing any movies this weekend, but that's OK.

Three three

Mar 24, 2007
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I had a nice birthday yesterday. I had to work, though, which made it a not-so-exciting day until work ended. First, I walked down to the Jolly Roger Taproom for a first beer with

beer_retard. They have this deal on Fridays where they cap a limited-edition keg and sell $3 pints until they run out. We each had a pint of their Islander Pale Ale.

Firkin Friday

Then, we met up with

decadentscholar and

negihama for some food (caprese platter, three orders of fish and chips, and a side salad) and drinks (I had two more beers, but they were of the high alcohol variety). Afterward, we walked up to the house and served cake. The cats came out and made friends, and we had a not-so-late night. It was a good birthday.

The big present from Elizabeth was tickets to the Sasquatch Music Festival (day one, Saturday). The lineup: Host Sarah Silverman; artists Björk, The Arcade Fire, Manu Chao, Neko Case, The Hold Steady, Mix Master Mike, Mirah, and a bunch of others. Now I need to investigate the latest photo policy (what does "professional cameras" mean to the gate security?), see if it's worth it to get "Premier Parking", and start getting hydrated now.

In a little bit, we're heading over to my folks' to see some relatives, have more cake, and generally take it easy.

On the bubble

Mar 21, 2007
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I want to go out on my birthday (Friday) for a few drinks and some food, and I can't decide/figure out where to go! It's only going to be for four, maybe six or seven people (if we invite a couple of other people). Low-key.

negihama might make and bring a cake. At least three possible guests live on Capitol Hill or First Hill and don't have cars, so I'm trying to find something near there.

It doesn't have to be fancy. Just decent food, good drink selection (beer, mixed), and not someplace that will be super crowded on a Friday night. Guess I'll keep looking at Yelp until something makes sense. If we didn't do trivia so often at Hopvine, that would probably do fine for our purposes. Maybe we can just go someplace downtown.

We're thisclose to picking our caterer, and I need to make a list of the "what's next" stuff for the wedding. We should probably figure out the chairs for the ceremony, the rehearsal dinner site, the officiant, and round out the wedding party. Then, I guess, we start shopping for wedding bands? Dunno!

It's been sort of weird with most of my TV shows on hiatus. We aren't watching much. (In the last week, I saw Grey's Anatomy, a disappointing Office repackaged rerun, BSG, and ... that's it? Lost, I guess.) Meanwhile, I'm watching the rumors about the future of Veronica Mars with mixed feelings. In some ways, the show never was as good as the first season, so I have some doubts that a fourth season would necessarily be a return to form. However, it's still a better show than most everything else I see on network TV, and the cast is great. I'd definitely miss it if it goes away.

Barley Whine

Mar 18, 2007
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I finally got the resized engagement ring for

negihama, so now some of her coworkers will believe her that she's engaged. I'm so glad!

On Saturday, I tried some barleywines with

beer_retard and

decadentscholar, which was fun. Without my designated driver I was a little buzzed after the sweet, high-alcohol drinks. Good thing we wandered around Fremont for a while; I felt much better after some thrift-store and library browsing.

Today, among other things (a bunch of housecleaning), I wandered down to Sonic Boom to see a free in-store of a newish band, Night Canopy. I'm going to try to get to one of their upcoming shows.

Night Canopy 4

I'm also very interested in the Archives, a new project by Mat Brooke (of Band of Horses, briefly anyway, and Carissa's Wierd). I like what I've heard so far on their Myspace page. It was so weird when his last band blew up so quickly (I barely got a chance to see them before their album was plastered all over the Zune ad campaign). I've sort of gotten on a music-discovering and buying kick lately, and it's fun after a slow period.

The Ides

Mar 15, 2007
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I guess that in the next few days, we're going to pick our caterer. Next on the list are the DJ (I guess DIY would be too much work) and the officiant (two of our top choices can't do it). And I need to call the potential groomsmen. We met with a caterer yesterday afternoon, and we might end up going with them. It would have been nice to taste some food — by the time we left, we were famished.

Things are quiet-ish now, but they're going to pick up soon. Friday is a pie party (two days late). Saturday, I might do some barleywine sampling at Brouwer's; we're also going to try to start some yardwork and early garden prep. Sunday, I'm going to see Night Canopy do a free in-store at Sonic Boom. And then next week includes meeting up with my Aunt Angi, who's in town for a conference, we may have houseguests for a few days on the weekend, my birthday happens (I have no idea what we're doing that night), and I suppose other things will come up, too.

A year ago today we flew to Italy.

Goodbye, hello again

Mar 5, 2007
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Who's Steve? I understand why you might forget.

Shee-it, what happened in the last week? The only thing of note, I guess, is that the old college gang met up at my friend Mike's place for a farewell poker party for our friend, Chris. Chris's girlfriend is now in the Foreign Service. She's been assigned to Mauritania, and Chris is coming along with her. Needless to say, we won't be seeing him quite as often anymore.

Chips

Also at the gathering was my old friend from college, Che. For reasons that are too lengthy to explain here, we haven't had many chances to see each other, especially in the last five years. It was great to see him again, and it's nice to see that not much really changes in 5 years (except our collective hairlines).

Coming up this week is a live taping of "This American Life" on Wednesday and I don't know what else yet. That and work, which I have to get back to.

Recollections

Feb 27, 2007
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The trouble with getting older and relying so much on your personal blog's archive to remember things is that if you don't document what happened ASAP, you're liable to forget. That, or nothing actually happened to document. It's probably the latter for the weekend, but I dunno.

I do know that we went out and did a little beer "research" with

beer_retard on Saturday afternoon, went to a party on Saturday night, and watched the Oscars™ on Sunday night with my parents. Somewhere in there we slept a bunch and ate stuff, too.

Life is going great, though. We are finally seriously making lists of caterers for quotes, we have more ideas for the wedding day than we have the energy to implement, and the Save A Date cards are going in the mail soon. Tonight it might snow (I used to never believe this in Seattle, but now I believe it until proven otherwise), and Saturday night I say goodbye to my friend Chris, off to D.C. and then the west coast of Africa in June.

Also, I am working in a coffee shop for the first time in at least two months, and I'm slightly wired. I don't usually have coffee in the afternoon, and I'm feeling it. Uh oh!

How did it become Wednesday already?

Feb 7, 2007
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Hmmm. Anyway, since we now have a wedding date, a bit of the time pressure is off for a bit. Saturday, I did some errands about town. Sunday, I went to my friend Mike's to watch the Superbowl (or rather to spend time with my friends and watch commercials). Monday night, we went out to dinner with my folks. Last night, um, we watched Veronica Mars. And that's what's up so far this week.

(The guy who bought an ad to propose to his girlfriend (first for the Superbowl and then during his girlfriend's favorite TV show - Veronica Mars - instead when the Superbowl ad didn't air) is local, 'cause we saw the ad.)

There's a couple of interesting music shows coming up. So far, I only have a ticket to one (Neko Case on Sunday), but I hope to see some others.

Upcoming shows. The lone asterisk means it's the only one for which I have an actual ticket (I hope to get the TAL ticket(s) today, though).

*Feb. 11 - Merle Haggard/Neko Case (Paramount)
Feb. 12 - Camera Obscura/Portastatic (Neumo's)
Feb. 14 - Sparklehorse/Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter (Showbox)
Feb. 18 - The Shins (Paramount)
Feb. 20 - The Shins (Paramount)
Feb. 23 - Carolyn Mark (Tractor Tavern)
Feb. 24 - Jonathan Coulton (Tractor Tavern, early)
Feb. 25 - Josh Ritter (Showbox)
Mar. 7 - This American Life live taping (Paramount)
Mar. 7 - Midlake (Crocodile)
Mar. 9 - Peter Parker (High Dive)
Mar. 16 - Night Canopy (Crocodile)
Mar. 18 - Nigh Canopy (free in-store, Ballard Sonic Boom, 4 p.m.)
Mar. 27 - Page France (Crocodile)
Mar. 27 - Son Volt (Showbox)
Mar. 31 - Sarah Vowell (Paramount)

Limbo like me

Feb 2, 2007
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I don't want to jinx things or anything, but I think we may have figured out a good wedding date. It all depends on when the reception site folks gets back to me and how fast I can call the wedding site folks. Then The fun of making a guest list and making "save the date" cards and/or invitations begins! ~~The reception site has limited office hours, so we're sort of in limbo.~~ Edit: The wedding is in late August!

Julie, we will still ask you for any information you have about vendors. We're just trying to lock down the date so the rest of the process can start!

In other, non-wedding news, well not much is going on. This week, I read some comics (the new LSH chief among the floppies, plus the final Seven Soldiers TP) and am halfway through my latest prose book, which I will post about when I'm done. Both of us made our mixclub mixes, and mine went into the mail yesterday afternoon. I'm back to swimming, finally, after some laziness and cold recovery. I still have an itchy throat, but my head is pretty cleared up.

Saturday, I want to get some errands done, and Sunday I plan to see my old college friends for (maybe) a soccer game (for old-times' sake, although fewer of us still have cleats around) and definitely the Superbowl. I'm going to see my old suitemate/roommate Che for the first time in I don't know how many years, which should be cool. And Monday is my Dad's birthday, so we're going out to dinner with my parents.